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Using Panel Data to Test for Fiscal Sustainability within the European Union

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  • Silika Prohl
  • Joakim Westerlund

Abstract

Most empirical evidence suggests that the sustainability hypothesis, stating that government revenues and expenditures should cointegrate with a unit slope on expenditures, does not hold within the European Union, a finding at odds with many theoretical models. This paper argues that these results can be attributed in part to the use of inappropriate time-series techniques, and that the use of panel data can generate more accurate tests. By using newly devised panel unit-root and cointegration techniques it is shown that the sustainability hypothesis cannot be rejected when applied to a panel composed of 15 European countries between 1970 and 2004.

Suggested Citation

  • Silika Prohl & Joakim Westerlund, 2009. "Using Panel Data to Test for Fiscal Sustainability within the European Union," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 65(2), pages 246-269, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:mhr:finarc:urn:sici:0015-2218(200906)65:2_246:updttf_2.0.tx_2-7
    DOI: 10.1628/001522109X470612
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. António Afonso, 2005. "Fiscal Sustainability: The Unpleasant European Case," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 61(1), pages 19-44, March.
    2. Michael Artis & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2001. "Fiscal forecasting: The track record of the IMF, OECD and EC," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 4(1), pages 20-36.
    3. Bravo, Ana Bela Santos & Silvestre, Antonio Luis, 2002. "Intertemporal sustainability of fiscal policies: some tests for European countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 517-528, September.
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    5. Jushan Bai & Serena Ng, 2004. "A PANIC Attack on Unit Roots and Cointegration," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(4), pages 1127-1177, July.
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    7. Luciano Gutierrez, 2006. "Panel Unit‐root Tests for Cross‐sectionally Correlated Panels: A Monte Carlo Comparison," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(4), pages 519-540, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin Owusu & Bettina Bökemeier & Alfred Greiner, 2023. "Assessing nonlinearities and heterogeneity in debt sustainability analysis: a panel spline approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1315-1346, March.
    2. Niklas Potrafke & Markus Reischmann, 2012. "Fiscal Equalization Schemes and Fiscal Sustainability," ifo Working Paper Series 141, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    3. Munawar-Shah, Syed & Abdul-Majid, Mariani & Hussain-Shah, Syed, 2014. "Assessing Fiscal Sustainability for SAARC and IMT-GT Countries," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 5(2), pages 26-40.
    4. Niklas Potrafke & Markus Reischmann, 2015. "Fiscal Transfers and Fiscal Sustainability," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(5), pages 975-1005, August.
    5. Auteri, Monica & Costantini, Mauro, 2010. "A panel cointegration approach to estimating substitution elasticities in consumption," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 782-787, May.
    6. Markus Reischmann, 2016. "Empirical Studies on Public Debt and Fiscal Transfers," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 63.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fiscal sustainability; panel unit root; panel cointegration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General

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